Fire-escape.



Pafented-Oct. so, 1900.

E. S. GAIL.

FIRE ESCAPE.

Application filed mp9, 1899.)

2 Shaets-Sheet I.

(No Model.

ir v istr E1? wAMuz TH: norms vsvznsoo. vnnmu'ruou WASHINGTON a-c UNTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE ERNEST S. GAIL, OF HIGHLAND PARK, ILLINOIS.

FIRE-ESCAPE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 660,792, dated October 30, 1900.

Application filed January 9, 1899.

To ctZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ERNEST S. GAIL, of Highland Park, in the county of Lake and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Fire-Escapes, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to fire-escapes of the class in which a cable orrope is employed to let persons down outside of buildings in order to escape from fire within; and the objects of my improvement are, first, to provide a frame or support for the cable and to so mount the cable between its ends upon the support that bysliding it back and forth upon the support its opposite ends may be made to rise and descend alternately between the support and the ground; second, to provide means for producing friction for retarding the cable in operation; third, to provide a governor in conjunction with the frame and cable for automatically regulating the friction, so as to control the speed of descent under varying conditions of load when applied to either end of the cable, and, fourth, to provide means for winding the cable so that it may be compactly stored and conveniently accessible for quick use. I attain these objects by the apparatus and means illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a rear elevation of an apparatus embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a horizontal section on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 shows a waist-belt with a breech-strap whereby a person may be connected with an eye or ring on the ends of the cable for the purpose of being let down from an elevation by the use of the apparatus. Fig. 5 is a rear elevation illustrating the position of the cable upon the frame or cable-support when unwound.

In the drawings, A is an inverted- U shaped piece made of a rod of metal and provided with cross-pieces A A the ends a being fiattened, bent forward, and provided with a slot a. On a shaft or pin connected with the cross-piece A is mounted a pulley B, and in the cross-piece A is journaled a shaft 0, provided with a pulley B at the rear and a miter gear D at the front. Extending from the crosspiece A is an arm E, having an enlarged end E, in which is journaled a hollow shaft 6. A

gear D is fixed to the end of this shaft and engages with gear D, and a ball-governor F is attached thereto.

G is the cable, which is passed in through the slot 0t iuthe lower end of the U-shaped piece at one side, thence around the pulley B, thence partially around one member of the U-shaped piece, thence over the pulley B, and thence down around the opposite member of the U-shaped piece and out through the slot a at the other side, both ends of the cable being free ofthe support and provided with an eye g or a ring or hook.

H is a hell;crank which is pivoted at h to the crosspiece A and extended toward the front to or slightly beyond the line of the shaft 6, so that the governor-rod e, passing through the hollow of said shaft, is brought into engagement therewith. A light spring (2 isinterposed between the end of the shaft 6 and the bell-crank. This causes sufficient friction on the cable to hold it taut, so that the bight of the cable on the pulley B will cause it to revolve and operate the governor when the cable is drawn through the slots 0: a in either direction.

The pulley B, shaft 0, gears D D, and shaft 6 are adapted to operate with the same effect upon the governor in both directions, so that the pulling of the cable by either end to revolve pulley B in one direction or the other will operate th ,overnor for regulating the pressure or fri on of the bell-crankH upon the cable in a )rdance with pulling force and without a vounter force or weight applied to the opposite end of the cable.

A spool or reel I is attached to a shaft 1, journaled in the casing J or other suitable supporting-frame, and having a projecting square end to which a crank or key can be applied for revolving the spool. The spool has a pin I. (Shown in Fig. 5 and in dotted lines, Fig. 2.) When the cable is not wound on the spool, both of its ends will hang free, as shown in Fig. 5, one end being drawn out of the casing, while the other may be within it or adjacent to the spool, so that the eye at the end can he slipped over the pin on the spool. Then by turning the spool by means of a key applied to its shaft the cable will be wound on the spool, so as to draw it into the casing, leaving one end suspended just below or within thecasingin positionv for use. The length of cable is adjusted to the elevation, so that when the suspended end is drawn down to the ground the cable will be unwound, leaving the opposite end free of the pin on the spool and in position for a second operation, as shown in Fig. 5, which will return the opposite end of the cable to its former position without winding the cable on the reel. The frame or cable-support is designed to be secured by means of a hook or other attaching devicenear, a window orplace ofescape adapted to hook into or engage the loop at the upper end of the inverted-U-shaped piece. The attaching device may be either on the inside or outside of the building. The casing J is intended to protect the apparatus from the weather when hung outside the building, and that portion of the casing which covers the front of the spool may be made of glass, soas to expose the ends of the cable to vie-w when drawn inside the casing.

Attachment of the cable to the person may be madeby means of a belt about the waist or by other means. The belt -K, provided with a breech-strap 70, as shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings, is to be preferred. One end of the belt has a snap-hook Z, while the other is provided with eyes Z at different points to suit different sizes of waists. The snap-hook can engage either of the eyes of the belt and also the eye 9 of the cable.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Let-E ters Patent, is-

1. A fire-escape of the class mentioned com-;' prising an inverted-U-shaped frame, a'pulley mounted on the frame and arranged between the members thereof, a cable mounted between its ends on the frame by being passed around the pulley and coiled about the frame, a friction-piece mounted on the frame and adapted to bear upon the cable and a governor having gear connection with the pulley and lever connection with the friction-piece, substantially as specified.

2. In a fireaescapc of the-class mentioned,

the combination with a cable-support having vertical rods and intermediate pulleys, of a cable mounted between its ends upon the support, having a bight on the pulleys and being coiled about thevertical rods so as to slide back and forth thereon as specified.

3. In a fire-escape of the class mentioned, the combination with a cable-support having vertical rods and intermediate pulleys of a cable mounted between its ends upon the support, having a big-ht on the pulleys and being coiled about the vertical rods so as to slide back and forth thereon and a spring-pressed friction-piece adapted to bear upon the cable as specified.

4. In a fire-escape of the class mentioned, the combination with an inverted-U-shaped frame each of the members of the frame be ing provided with a slot, of pulleys mounted on the frame and arranged between the members thereof, a cable mounted between its ends on said frame ,by being passed through the slots, around the pulleys and coiled about the frame, a friction-piece mounted on the frame and adapted to bear upon the cable, a governor having gear connection with one of the pulleys and leverconnection with the friction-piece substantially as specified.

5. In a fire-escape of the class mentioned,

the combination with a cable-support having vertical rods and pulleys intermediate the rods, of a cable mounted between its ends upon the support and coiled about one of the rods with a bight upon the pulleys a spring- ERNEST S. GAIL.

Witnesses:

JNO. I-I. WHIPPLE, WALTER VAN SANDS. 

